Saint Augustine of Hippo

As one of the most prominent figures of the early church, Saint Augustine is not only recognized for his leadership but also for his knowledge and influence on the thinking and doctrine of the Christian Church. As a priest, he was an important leader of the early African Church; as a philosopher, he brought a new approach to Church Doctrine through the ideas of pagan philosophy (TeSelle 892). These accomplishments put him among the ranks of Thomas Aquinas and other great Church philosophers whose ideas revolutionized the Church. Because of his accomplishments and influence, Augustine was named a Doctor of the Church.

Aurilius Augustine was born in Tagaste in 354 A.D. to a pagan father and a saintly mother. His father, although poor and uneducated, was a Roman citizen and official. He did however provide enough to give Augustine a classical education, which provided a background for a well rounded individual, intellectual, and Christian. His mother, Saint Monica, was a great influence on Augustine throughout his life, and was the main cause for the development of his faith (Brown 19). In the year 370, Augustine began his studies at the university in Carthage. There he studied rhetoric in order to become a lawyer. He soon abandoned this path, and devoted his studies to the literary arts and later to philosophy (TeSelle 892).

With such an extensive knowledge in rhetoric and philosophy, Augustine began to teach. Beginning in the 360s, he taught in Tagaste and Carthage and continued this for almost a decade. After this, he moved on to Rome in 383 and started a school of rhetoric, but soon became discouraged by the attitudes of the students and eventually abandoned it. A year later, he was appointed chair of rhetoric at the university at Milan (Delaney 78).

During this time of study, he continued to gradually desert his faith. This shaken faith would lead him down many different roads until his conversion back to the faith. He met and lived with a mistress for...

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...Biography: Aurelius Augustinus (referred to as “St. Augustine of Hippo) was born in Tagaste (now Souk- Ahras), North Africa on November 13, 354. His family was not rich growing up but Augustine still received a Christian education. Wild as a child he had a long-term relationship with a freedwoman who bore him a son. When he was 19 he was introduced to philosophy at Carthage where he became a brilliant student who mastered Latin and knew Greek. He worked as a professor at Carthage for a while but sometimes the students didn’t pay the professors after attending all the classes, so he got annoyed and traveled to Rome to seek a fortune. When he was in his thirties he converted to Christianity and entered a monastery. He spent the rest of his life working on his philosophical writings. In 395 he was ordained Bishop of Hippo. He died of a fever on August 28, 430 during the third month of the siege of Hippo by the barbarians.
Philosophy on Law: St. Augustine believed and wrote extensively about natural law. He defines natural law as “an instilled law written on the human heart or conscience”. Augustine believed natural law was one of the ways God governs humans. His notions of natural law lead him to a discussion about just and unjust laws. He believed just laws were derived from natural law. Additionally he believed, those laws not following natural law, were unjust...

...﻿Augustine of Hippo
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Augustine of HippoSaintAugustine in His Study by Sandro Botticelli, 1480, Chiesa di Ognissanti,Florence, Italy
Born
13 November 354
Thagaste, Numidia (modern-day Souk Ahras, Algeria)
Died
28 August 430 (aged 75)
Hippo Regius, Numidia(modern-day Annaba, Algeria)
Notable work(s)
Confessions of St. Augustine
City of God
On Christian Doctrine
Theological work
Augustine of Hippo (/ɔːˈɡʌstɨn/[1][2] or /ˈɔːɡəstɪn/;[2] Latin: Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis;[3] 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known asSaint Augustine or Saint Austin,[4] was an early Christian theologian andphilosopher[5] whose writings were very influential in the development ofWestern Christianity and Western philosophy. He was bishop of Hippo Regius(present-day Annaba, Algeria) located in the Roman province of Africa. Writing during the Patristic Era, he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers in the West. Among his most important works are City of God andConfessions, which continue to be read widely today.
According to his contemporary, Jerome, Augustine "established anew the ancient Faith."[6] In his early years, he was heavily influenced by Manichaeismand afterward by the Neo-Platonism of Plotinus.[7] After his conversion to Christianity and his baptism in 387,...

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SaintAugustine of Hippo delved into a life of deep, philosophical thinking,
challenging the very way of life to it’s minute existence. He struggled with his inner
being after leaving home to pursue intellectualism. He broadened his views after
converting from Christianity to Manichaeism, devoting his thought to Neoplatonism. He
eventually returned to Catholicism in A.D. 387, when he began to re-establish his
Christian doctrine. As the Western Roman Empire came to a decline, St. Augustine
developed his own philosophical and theological approach. In due course, St. Augustine
profoundly shaped modern Christian political thinking and contributed his philosophical
aspirations to the development of medieval philosophy.
Born to a pagan father and a Christian mother in 354, Augustine underwent the
early education of a Roman boy around 365 to 369 in Madauros, a small center in the
Roman province of Northern Africa. Shortly after in 370, Augustine returned to his
hometown Thagaste, located in the north-east highlands of Numidia. He dreadfully
waited here for his father, Patricius, to raise the funds for him to go study at the
University of Carthage. With the aid of a rich patron relative, Romanianus, Patricius sent
Augustine to Carthage, but would not see him return home before dying in 372.
Carthage had already taken an inﬂuential toll on...

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PAN AFRICA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY: BIBLE & THEOLOGY
COURSE CODE: CMN2113
COURSE ASSIGNIMENT: CHURCH HISTORY I- A STUDY ON THE LIFE AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
STUDENT NAME: REUBEN CHAKA,
SUBMITTED TO: Dr. NGUCHIE GATHOGO
DATE: 5th November, 2013
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO- BISHOP AND THEOLOGIAN
SaintAugustine (Aurelius Augustinus) was one of the greatest theologians of Western Christianity and indeed one of the greatest Church Fathers. In his day the Mediterranean world consisted of an Eastern, Greek-speaking half and a Western, Latin-speaking half, with different ways of looking at things. His theology influenced both Catholicism and Protestantism.
He was born on 13 November 354 in North Africa, about 45 miles south of the Mediterranean, in the town of Tagaste (modern Souk-Ahras) in Numidia, in what is now Algeria, but near ancient Carthage (modern Tunis). Augustine was the Son of Patricius, a man of hot temper, His mother, Monnica, was a Christian, and his father for many years a pagan (although he became a Christian before his death). His mother undertook to bring him up as a Christian, and on one level he always found something attractive about Christ, but in the short run he was more interested in the attractions of sex, fame, and pride in his own cleverness. After a moderate amount of running around as a...

...AUGUSTINEAugustine was born November 13, A.D. 354, in Tagaste (it is call today Souk Ahras, Algeria); and died seventy six years later in Hippo Regius (pp.1) Augustine was raise up in a family with both parents his father (Patricius) who was a nonbeliever until later in life and Augustine mother (Monica) a child of God. Augustine was taught at a young age about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by his mother; Augustine like any other young teenager did not like school but at the same time had a desire to be like by his teacher’s; like any other child Augustine did have some bad behavior at times; Augustine did not meet any stringer in school because of his personality and Augustine did have a good many friends. Augustine parents saw that their son was college material and they had a desire to send him to college, but like so many parents they were concern about the cost of college and where they would get the money form. Augustine parents Patricius and Monica with the help of family and friends put together enough money to send their son to the University Madaura; but after Augustine began school his father died, that left Augustine mother with limited resources but Monica were determine to keep her son in school. While in school Augustine met a young woman and...

...﻿Yebeman Asseged
Core 140 Roots of World Views and Culture
Professor Mark McCarthy
November 8, 2012
Compare and Contrast Plato vs. St. Augustine of Hippo
Our world has developed and flourished by the thoughts and contributions of many leaders. Among those leaders were SaintAugustine and Pluto. For many historians, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Augustine’s The City of God, are historical pieces that point out what had happened during ancient times. These pieces are significant because they shed some light on different thoughts and beliefs of people. Even though these works do not have similar world views, they attempt to show guidance to human life and to their beliefs. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, he teaches a world view with an example of a cave filled with darkness that people inside should get out by finding the truth and seeing the light. On the other hand, in Augustine’s The City of God, a Christian author, perceived this world as a place where the heavens and the earth coexist. Even though they both showed some similarities on the concept of dualism, these two philosophers had quite different principles and foundational beliefs.
Augustine lived in the time around the fourth century. He was born in Tagaste, a Roman province in northern Africa. During his life time, the Roman Empire was on the verge of weakening and later collapsed for good. And according to Brian Levack, one of the...

...AuSaint Augustine was a bishop of Hippo Regius, a Latin philosopher and theologian. He was born in 354 in the town of Thagaste in Roman Africa. Growing up with a Pagan father and a Christian mother, SaintAugustine endured many experiences from which he produced a book of confessions. In this book he writes about his life and struggles with evil desires. He struggled with greed, gluttony and lust, which are three among seven of the deadliest sins. His main struggle was within faith and religion concerning sexual restrictions and church regulations. He overcomes these struggles when he finds his faith.
The encounters of evil SaintAugustine battles with fluctuate throughout his life. In his book of confessions he states that committing greed and gluttony brought joy to him. He loved anything that would amuse him such as chariot racing, gladiator fights and theatre. He would venture in drinking; gambling, stealing and he participated in barbaric pranks on people. He focused more on his own pleasures other than helping others. What saved him was his mother, Monica, who prayed for Augustine’s wickedness to wither. Monica’s prayers were answered when she received a dream from God. During this time he became a teacher and over the years he saw that what he use to enjoy was dull and senseless. Slowly his immoral practices became nothing but regretful memories. His mother then started to...